MOTORING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15948, 19 June 1915, Page 10

MOTORING.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. A now type of sparking P lug on ™ < ?;°u engines has been invented by an tingusn company. The clue has * tubular central electrode which carries a. block of serving the purpose of a window through which one con observe the colour J*," explosion in the combustion-chamber. A oar* purple epark shows the mixture to be correct; a light blue or white explosion signifies that it is too weak,.while a red Mlffur indicates too rich a mixture. By simply detaching the quart*' " window and substituting a milled nut. the plug is transformed into a " priming • plug, through which gasoline can be injected directly into the combustion-chamber. , On acoDunt of the terrific speed attained in the long distance American motor-car , contests, it has been aJniosfc impossible tor the driver and mechanician to speak to each other. To overcome this difficulty* several of the contestants in tho Vanderbilt Cup and American Grand Prix used with success a- combination face-guard, which cm* braced two speaking tubes one extending from the mouth of each person to the ear of the other. This enabled them to converse without slowing up.. New York is to have .its motor-, racing speedway. The track, which promises to be faster than the great motor track at Indianapolis, U.S.A., will bo two miles around. Soft wide and banked up to a height of 24ft at the turns. The surface will be of cement-, and it is. anticipated that cars will be able to maintain a. speed of 110 miles per hour on any part of tie track. A grandstand to accommodate 100,000 spectators will bo erected. The speedway will be erected at Brooklyn, just outside New York. | A novel motor-car race meeting was recently, held in America, the course being a four mile circuit on the frozen surface of Lake Superior. As the principal race—an eight mile event— won by on Overland in 8m 28s. it does not look as if the competitors had much trouble in getting a grip on the slippery l ice. Most of the drivers used non-dipping chains on their , tyres, to onable them to hold the corners. Ten thousand spectators witnessed the event. Some time ago Mr. Gordon Leicester) 41, Pall Mall, offered to teach, gratis, motor-car driving and mechanics to any man undertaking to enlist in the Mechanical. Transport section of the Army Service Corps. Since then he ha passed through over 600 men who have enlisted. This number, says ihe Field, is but one-tenth of those who . applied, and he finds himself unable unassisted, to continue the work. He estimates that the training of _ each .recruit ha« cost £2 10s, and as ha is anxious to carry on his very patriotic and valuable scheme, lie has appealed for financial assistance to enable, him to teach those men who aro themselves unable to raise this amount. —>-• \i Since the war be ran the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traderswhich holds and controls »the annual 'motor-car exhibition at Olvmpia—by special resolution excluded the following firms from its membership, on the ground that they are German or Austrian enemies Austrian Daimler Motor Co., Ltd.; British N.A.G. Motor Co., Ltd • Brnhn's .Taxameter, Ltd.; Continental Tyro and .Rubber Co. (Great Britain), Ltd.; Pafnir-Werke (Aachener Stahlwoarcnfabrik) Aktiengeßellschftft: Fischer's Bill and Rear, ing Co,: Jansen Cars, Ltd.; Krupp Fried, Aktiengesellsclmff; Matliis, A. G.; Milnes-Daimler-Mercedes, Ltd ; Reichstein. Gebr.Stoewers (London), Ltd.- Tonelyte Manufacturing Co.; Zeiss, Carl (London). Ltd; Peter Union Tyre Co., Ltd.; Poiack Tyre find Rubber Co.. Ltd. , \ ~